Dhumal takes oath as CM

Senior BJP leader Prem Kumar Dhumal was sworn in as Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh for second time here on Sunday. Governor VS Kokje administered the oath of office secrecy to the 63-year-old veteran BJP leader at an open function at historic Ridge Maidan.

Former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, Chief Ministers of Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand -- Prakash Singh Badal, Vasundhara Raje and BC Khanduri respectively -- and senior BJP leaders Shanta Kumar, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi were present on the occasion.

Dhumal, heading the fourth non-Congress Government was the 16th Chief Minister and was back in power after four years and 300 days.

In spite of freezing cold wave conditions in the morning, thousands of people converged at the Ridge and slogans of Bharat mata ki jai and Jai shree Ram rent the area as Dhumal took oath under bright sunshine.

All approach roads to Ridge were choked and hundreds of people could not reach the venue. It was for the second time in history of Himachal Pradesh that Chief Minister took oath outside the Raj Bhawan complex.

Earlier it was on January 25, 1971 when the then Chief Minister YS Parmar took oath at the Ridge to meet the constitutional requirement after Himachal Pradesh was granted statehood.

The swearing in ceremony was a very brief function lasting just two minutes as no other Minister was inducted. All the dignitaries and Dhumal left for Delhi immediately after the function to attend Ram Sethu rally.

A three time MLA from Bamsan in Hamirpur District, Dhumal remained Chief Minister from March 24, 1998 to March 5, 2003 and was first BJP Chief Minister to complete the full term.

It was for the first time in the electoral history of the State that the BJP had won clear majority on its own winning 41 out of 68 seats.

Son of Capt Mahant Ram, a farmer by occupation, Dhumal (63) was born on April 10, 1944 at Samirpur village in Hamirpur. He got married to Sheela Dhumal, a housewife and has two sons, Anurag and Arun.

Dhumal did his matriculation from DAV High School Touni Devi in Hamirpur, Graduation from DAV College in Jalandhar and, post graduation in English and LLB from Guru Nanak Dev University. Dhumal had taught in Punjab University and then later in Doaba College Jalandhar for 10 years. He was secretary of Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morch from 1980-82 and vice-president from 1982-1985. He remained State BJP general secretary from 1985-93 and held the post of State BJP president from 1993 to1998.

During his current visit to Delhi, Dhumal would also hold consultations regarding constitution of his Ministry with the Central leaders as there are many more aspirants than the ministerial berths.

Besides former BJP Ministers Roop Singh Thakur, Mohinder Singh, Dile Ram, JP Nadda, Krishan Kapoor, Ramesh Dhawala, ID Dhiman, Narinder Bragata, Rajan Sushant, Ravi Inder Singh Ravi, Rikhi Ram Kaundal, Hari Narayan Singh, Ram Lal Markanda, former Speaker Gulab Singh and former Parliamentary secretaries, Urmil Thakur and Sarveen Chowdhary, several political heavy weights like State BJP chief Jai Ram Thakur, Rajya Sabha MP, Suresh Bharadwaj, Rajiv Bindal, Sat Pal Satti and Renu Chaddha are strong contenders for ministerial berths.